In honour of Mother's Day this Sunday, I thought it would be fun to ask our little ones what they think we mums do all day. Naturally, we had to be prepared for some brutal honesty and expected the mundane - shopping, hanging with friends, housework. Some of the answers weren't exactly what the mums were expecting!

I was lucky enough to attend a conference run by headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation. There were many fascinating topics but one that certainly drew a crowd was the session on how food affects mood.

The groundbreaking idea that what we put in our mouths can not only affect how we feel but be a source of treatment for anxiety and depression disorders is a new way of looking at food.

Dreams are supposed to be crazy, way-out, off the scale stupid, right? That's why they are figments of our imagination. Turning a dream into a reality is where the hard work begins.

My dream to write a children's book took a long time and plenty of rejections. Publication has earned me very little money and probably caused me more stress than a stock-standard day job, so why did I do it?

It was just a question! Or 7... I have been accused of asking too many questions. Teenagers don't like questions, it seems. But when they only grunt answers, the way of obtaining more information is to ask more questions!

So, I asked some experts in the field to help out with tips and advice on how to engage teenagers without making them feel interrogated. Link to the article on Essential Kids is here.

REJECTION - I wish I knew a lot less about this topic matter, but alas, I am a writer, therefore I am besties with the concept of rejection.

I've rocked in many a corner, after the high of submitting something I thought had promise, then the low of the 'no' shooting straight to the heart. It's often difficult to differentiate between your writing being rejected and you being rejected.

But after ten years of this game, I've realised that receiving the rejections doesn't get any easier, there's naturally disappointment when a story idea or article pitch doesn't get accepted, but there are some coping strategies that can help.

I must admit, the bigger the project, the bigger the fall, too. I had a novel manuscript rejected by Penguin Random House and that definitely kneecapped me. Whereas article pitches are part of daily life for most freelance writers, so we need to learn ways to accept, learn and move on from a rejection. I wrote about it over on Rachel's List. Check it out here.

I was invited to share my career path and early aspirations with Amba Brown, an Australian Positive Psychology author, who is passionate about youth finding their path.

I recall how overwhelming it was, choosing subjects that would eventually lead to my "career" - some unknown area I was supposedly going to lock myself into for life. Well, life doesn't work like that and the changing face of the workforce over the past 40 years has given me the freedom to zig zag along my path of passions until I found something that stuck.

I love reading rhyming books to my children. One of the reasons is they are fast to read and who doesn't love a quick book at bedtime when you'd like the day to be over!

Obviously rhyming books are also really fun to read, and they have all sorts of benefits for children learning to read. I wrote about how rhyming helps our children read for Kidspot in this article: LINK.

When I started out with the seed of an idea for my books, rhyme seemed to make the most sense and it lent itself to the style I was writing. What I learnt is that good rhyme is REALLY HARD to write! And it's not just the rhymes you need to nail, it's the rhythm and flow.

We've all read bad rhyming books, and they jar. They make us stumble over our words. They force us to put emphasis on the wrong syllable to make the stanza flow. So, next time you read a rhyming book that flows, that seems like a simple and easy story, remember to achieve that, the author put in damn hard work!

We've had a visit or two to the emergency department. Seems our third child takes the gong for most injury-prone. This image actually makes me want to cry - look at his chubby little newborn arms and that clear break in his bone!

I was recently interviewed by Kirsty Dummin for her blog series, 'The Writer's Room'.

I met Kirsty during the5-day Commercial Fiction Masterclassback in April. She's an impressive woman, with drive and ambition that will take her far, as well as a writing ability most of us mere mortals envy.

She asked great questions in her interview. I had to think hard about a few of them. Then I crapped on for a bit. If you'd like to read all about my writing processes, where I find ideas, and what makes me rock in a corner, you can find the full interview here: LINK

First there's the thrill of a publisher saying yes, then there's signing the contract, seeing the first copies of the books with my name on the front and now the thrill of seeing my own books on a shop shelf.

This concept came to me three years ago and to finally see it realised, is exhilarating. Even if I only sell a minuscule amount compared to the big names, I'm content knowing little cherubs spotted around the place are getting a chuckle and some fun out of the books. If they help with reading and language development, then what an awesome bonus!

Stock is still available but if you want the books to arrive in time for Christmas, you'll have to borrow a pair of Rosie's running shoes... and if you don't know who Rosie is, then you'll need to read Whose Shoes?!

It's been a while since my children were babies, but I still remember the feeling of my brain fading in and out. There were the benign brain fades of putting milk in the cupboard and forgetting where I left my bag / keys / sense of humour. It was, however, a more dangerous incident that left me wondering if my brain really was affected by pregnancy and having a newborn.

Read all about it in my latest Kidspot article, 'Danger! Under the influence of 'baby brain'!': ARTICLE HERE

Yippeee! There's nothing quite like the smell of a new book, is there? Seeing my four titles en masse blows my mind a little.

After quality-control checking all the pre-orders (with my very helpful 6-year-old assistant), there's a whole gang in the post, and some personal deliveries about to be fulfilled (awaiting my order from Officeworks so I can actually pack them for you - just simple brown carry bags, how long can it take?!).

To get my book published felt like an insurmountable obstacle. When I celebrated signing the contract, I realised the marathon didn't end there. There were illustrations to agree on, printing to wait for, hoping local and international buyers would want to stock the books.

Once the beautiful rainbow of books finally arrived, I wondered how the heck I was going to sell it all. To be discovered in a market that is saturated with bigger, much better known names, is challenging and it'd be easy to curl in a ball and hide under my doona.

But I want to get these little slices of sunshine out into the world, into the hands of cherubs who are absorbing language and finding their love of books. I've been incredibly lucky so far, or perhaps determined is a better word. I've sold almost half of the stock - and that was before I physically had them in my hot hands.

I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the people who bought the books. Some bought them as Christmas gifts, some bought them as a way to support me, some bought the books purely to keep on their own shelves, even though they have no-one of the relevant reading age to enjoy them. Whatever the reason, I am humbled by the kindness of my family, friends, writing comrades and perfect strangers.

For the local bookshops - The Book Barn & Seven Pages - that I approached, who opened their arms to me and welcomed my stock, I thank you. We all have to start somewhere and this is my start.

If you missed out on pre-orders and would like to buy a set (or an individual book), please go to the orders page here.

Four is a lot of kids by today's standards. I often get comments about how full my hands are and how my sanity must be tested. It is. Every. Single. Day. But there are also great things about having four children. I weigh up the pros and cons in this article on Essential Kids - for your benefit. It's too late for us, we wouldn't know which kid to give back!

Another article where I've taken my life into my own hands. Spurred by the constant comments about how lucky I am to have a husband who pulls his weight around the house, I started to think about how many women are complimented and congratulated in the same way, for completing everyday tasks. Read all about it on Kidspot:HERE.

Having issues with that link? Copy & Paste: http://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/parenthood/relationships/im-not-lucky-that-my-husband-cooks-and-cleans/news-story/ec39e110d699c928a97711d4a0f29207

This could be a brave article, or a stupid one, I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping it doesn't bring out all the haters.

I've was inspired to write it after reaching the point of pure frustration with other parents commenting on well-behaved kids as being boring or lacking 'spunk'. Give credit where it's due, without a sucker punch in the throat.

Big thanks to Claire Orange and Dannielle Miller for their contributing comments.